Ok I need help with my POS starter

The starter will not spin the engine. It all started over last summer when the car would spin the engine slower and slower (but it still started.. ) until now. Now it wont start at all. Checked grounds and they are good. Starter was checked and it's fine.
Input and advice.
Matt

Oh ya, just ask me more questions if you need more. Thanks guys!

Take the starter out and clean it. Might have bad contacts inside it. Maybe there are other areas that are causing bad resistance.

Brand new starter with an even newer solenoid. Napa tested the starter and said it was like brand new :(

How good is your battery?
Have You tried to jump start it?

I have not tried jumpstarting it, and the battery is brand new with half charge. Last time I worked on the car, I killed the battery and it's now trickle charging. It *did* have enough juice to run though..

Well it seems that your battery is at fault here. If it turns out that it is not the battery however, starters for these cars are 15$ with a core trade in for the old one...not too much of a loss to buy a new one.

Well it seems that your battery is at fault here. If it turns out that it is not the battery however, starters for these cars are 15$ with a core trade in for the old one...not too much of a loss to buy a new one.

15$ :confused: I payed 100$ for a starter; with a trade-in I would have gotten like 20-30$ of it back; that's pretty damned pricy lol. But like I said, the battery had PLENTY of juice to push the very large stereo in it pretty hard, I must assume it had more than enough to push the starter. What happens though is the volt meter in the car goes WAAAAAAY down when I try cranking the car, it cranks for maybe 2 or 3 revolutions and stops and the starter makes an electronic noise similar to if you were to hold the end of a drill and preventing it from turning; that kind of electrical noise. I was thinking perhaps timing, but I had the car running over summer and have NOT touched the timing. It *was* advanced a bit too far so I retarded it just a bit, but other than that I cannot figure out what might be happening?

EDIT: And my battery has been trickle charging since early this morning.

I know you said your battery was good. But if it was my car I would jump the battery just to be positive, because it sure sounds like your battery can't deliver the amps your starter needs to turn that engine.

Your battery is bad.

For proof, rip it out and take it to napa to have it tested.

Even a bad battery will take a trickle charge.

My car has been doing the same thing since this summer. I've gone through three batteries in 18 months. Lucky for me they were all replaced under warranty. During all this a jump start fixed my problems until the next time I turned my car off. My alternator was replaced twice, even though they all tested good. So I figure I have a short. I already found one possibility of the cause (shoddy shadetree mechanic switch to electic fan), and I'm searching for others before I permanantly reconnect my NEW battery.

I know you said your battery was good. But if it was my car I would jump the battery just to be positive, because it sure sounds like your battery can't deliver the amps your starter needs to turn that engine.

Funny you say that because no more than 10 minutes ago my friend said that his friend said that it may not be able to deliver the amps as well.


This battery is brand new, and this is the first time I have allowed it to go dead. My old battery, which was still good according to autozone, did the same thing. I took the battery out of my friends Monte Carlo and it did the same thing. I tried jumpstarting the battery and the same thing happened. The battery is still trickle charging (over a day's worth now..) and I will be working on the car at 7pm tonite.

84Camaro_L69- You're car woldn't turn-over either?? Could that be the alternator? I don't think that you need the alternator just to turn-over the car :confused:

Matt check your battery cabels, including the insulation all the way on them. You could have a tear in one and have rust and corrosion built up. This is definitely a bad battery, (even though its been tested) or a cable, connection problem. You got to just go over the starting system You'll figure it out. :)

Good luck brotha!

use a volt meter and see what voltage you are getting at the small terminal at the starter when the key is in the crank position, it should read battery voltage(~12v), if lower then about 10V, the starter won't work, and this is most likely a bad ignition switch, but could be a high resistance wire or neutral safety switch as well


bad battery cables(positive and/or ground cables), high resistance in these can mimic a bad starter or a low/bad battery


charge the battery good, then take a volt meter, place the red lead on the battery positive terminal, the the black lead on the large stud/terminal at the starter(other end of pos. batt. cable), then crank the car, what does the meter read?(should read as close to zero as possible), if it reads more then about 1 volt, you need a new cable




p.s., this is called a voltage drop test................

Matt check your battery cabels, including the insulation all the way on them. You could have a tear in one and have rust and corrosion built up. This is definitely a bad battery, (even though its been tested) or a cable, connection problem. You got to just go over the starting system You'll figure it out. :)

Good luck brotha!

Thanks Jon; I will check out the cabling for sure.


use a volt meter and see what voltage you are getting at the small terminal at the starter when the key is in the crank position, it should read battery voltage(~12v), if lower then about 10V, the starter won't work, and this is most likely a bad ignition switch, but could be a high resistance wire or neutral safety switch as well


bad battery cables(positive and/or ground cables), high resistance in these can mimic a bad starter or a low/bad battery


charge the battery good, then take a volt meter, place the red lead on the battery positive terminal, the the black lead on the large stud/terminal at the starter(other end of pos. batt. cable), then crank the car, what does the meter read?(should read as close to zero as possible), if it reads more then about 1 volt, you need a new cable




p.s., this is called a voltage drop test................

NICE! I will have to try this tonite! Thing is.. I dont think that the voltmeter wires are long enough to reach both ends of the positive cable :think:

What if I were to put the voltmeter on the pos/neg posts of the starter whilst trying to turn it over?
How can I tell if it's the ignition switch? Where is the ignition switch located? Thanks a lot Dave!